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Warren pushes her middle-class roots in visit to Ayer

By John Collins, jcollins@lowellsun.com

Updated:
03/12/2012 08:31:36 AM EDT

AYER -- Elizabeth Warren looked at a photo hanging on the wall of Tiny's Restaurant of Jason Varitek smashing his mitt into the face of the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez in 2004, and claimed at least a tiny bit of kinship with the recently retired Boston catcher.

"His enthusiasm will be missed," Warren said of Varitek, who was revered by Red Sox fans for his blue-collar work ethic. "What a photo. He sure got his point across there, didn't he? He made it really clear."

Eight months out from the finish line of what's projected to be the costliest Senate race in Massachusetts history, Warren spent part of her Sunday at Tiny's Restaurant, seeking to improve her chances of unseating incumbent Republican Sen. Scott Brown one handshake and conversation at a time.

"Wait until she finds out we're Scott Brown supporters," said Tiny's customer Alberta Erickson, minutes before she and fellow Groton residents Jim Hallet, Lawrence "Win" Sherwin and Helen Swieca were greeted at their table by a cheery Warren.

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"For me, this campaign is all about what's happening to America's middle class," said Warren, reciting her campaign mantra. "The middle class is getting hammered. We can make changes, but we have to be organized and work together, reaching out person to person across this commonwealth."

After a December surge that saw her leading in the polls, Warren, the Democratic Harvard professor who has never before run for public office, has begun trailing Brown of late, according to the most recent voter surveys.

But Warren received a dual publicity boost from both an endorsement of Hollywood icon Cher -- who referred to Warren as "my hero" -- and the news that Warren is featured as a financial adviser to President Obama in a 17-minute documentary narrated by Tom Hanks that was produced by the Obama re-election campaign.

Warren said she has not seen the entire Obama video and has never met Cher.

"Look, I'm glad for anyone to say they want to support this campaign, but what I'm about is pretty clear -- I'm out here for working families," said Warren when asked about the Cher endorsement.

Warren acknowledged that her critics -- many of whom now refer to her as "Professor Warren" -- are citing the Cher endorsement as proof she has "gone Hollywood" or is a "hypocritical elitist."

Warren said she plans to refute such labels by telling voters about her life story.

"I grew up in a family that was just barely hanging onto its place in the middle class," she said. "My dad sold fencing and carpeting and ended up a maintenance man."

His daughter became a Harvard professor.

"I got to experience the American dream, and I want to see America making those same basic investments again -- in education, infrastructure -- so the next kid can have the same chance and the kid after that," Warren said. "That's what the election's about."

Overtaking a popular Republican incumbent such as Brown, who enjoys near-celebrity status for many, is not an impossible task in Warren's eyes. She compares it to the long odds she overcame in spearheading the grass-roots, nationwide effort to get Consumer Financial Protection Agency act in 2010, even after so many knowledgeable Washington observers, including former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, told her it could not be done.

She likened that victory to the Red Sox coming from three games down to defeat the Yankees in the American League Championship Series in 2004.

"Barney Frank told me, 'Elizabeth, the chances of getting your Consumer Financial Protection Agency approved are so low the odds don't even register,'" Warren said. "But I kept working for it because it was the right thing to do, to get people organized across the commonwealth and the country, and we ended up with a good consumer agency. We founded the agency as a result of the financial crisis the large banks put us in one lousy mortgage at a time."

The agency's mission, she added, "is to protect consumers from the financial tricks and traps that are often hidden in mortgages, credit cards and other financial products."

During her Ayer visit yesterday, Warren also met up with state Sen. Jamie Eldridge, an Acton Democrat, and state Rep. Jennifer Benson, a Lunenburg Democrat, at a voters' meet-and-greet event held for Benson at The Billiards Café on Main Street.

"We're both focusing on the middle class, ensuring there is a path for working their way up and making sure the American dream is still available to everybody," Benson said. "When I first met Elizabeth last year, we bonded over our very similar upbringings. I grew up in a family of farmers and mill workers in Rochester, New Hampshire. That is something we share."

At the billiards hall, Pepperell Democratic Town Committee Vice Chairwoman Alice Peck said she is confident Warren can defeat Brown.

"Deval Patrick had never held public office before he was elected, and look at the tremendous work he's done as governor," Peck said." With the commitment, energy and initiative she has shown, to do what she's done in the Consumer Financial Protection Agency -- that's evidence of her problem-solving ability and commitment to helping families."

Joanie MacPhee, a Townsend resident and Democratic activist, said she might not have considered voting for Warren had the candidate not demonstrated a willingness to come to the area and meet personally with the voters.

"I was very glad to see her out here, two towns away from me -- twice today," MacPhee said. "I believe she's going to win."

Warren plans to head a few miles north up Interstate 495 on Friday to attend the Lowell Saint Patrick's Day Breakfast at the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center, which Brown is also scheduled to attend.

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